
Lincoln vs. Davis
The War of the Presidents
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Narrated by:
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Rick Adamson
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By:
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Nigel Hamilton
About this listen
From a renowned biographer comes the greatest untold story of the Civil War: how two American presidents faced off as the fate of the nation hung in the balance—and how Abraham Lincoln came to embrace emancipation as the last, best chance to save the Union.
Of all the books written on Abraham Lincoln, there has been one surprising gap: the drama of how the “railsplitter” from Illinois grew into his critical role as U.S. commander-in-chief, and managed to outwit his formidable opponent, Jefferson Davis, in what remains history's only military faceoff between rival American presidents. Davis was a trained soldier and war hero; Lincoln a country lawyer who had only briefly served in the militia. Confronted with the most violent and challenging war ever seen on American soil, Lincoln seemed ill-suited to the task: inexperienced, indecisive, and a poor judge of people’s motives, he allowed his administration's war policies to be sabotaged by fickle, faithless cabinet officials while entrusting command of his army to a preening young officer named George McClellan–whose defeat in battle left Washington, the nation’s capital, at the mercy of General Robert E. Lee, Davis’s star performer.
The war almost ended there. But in a Shakespearean twist, Lincoln summoned the courage to make, at last, a climactic decision: issuing as a “military necessity” a proclamation freeing the 3.5 million enslaved Americans without whom the South could not feed or fund their armed insurrection. The new war policy doomed the rebellion—which was in dire need of support from Europe, none of whose governments now would dare to recognize rebel “independence” in a war openly fought over slavery. The fate of President Davis was sealed.
With a cast of unforgettable characters, from first ladies to fugitive coachmen to treasonous cabinet officials, Lincoln vs. Davis is a spellbinding dual biography from renowned presidential chronicler Nigel Hamilton: a saga that will surprise, touch, and enthrall.
©2024 Nigel Hamilton (P)2024 Little, Brown & CompanyListeners also enjoyed...
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Completenesss
- By William hartel on 12-08-24
By: M. G. Sheftall
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Natalie Wood
- A Life
- By: Gavin Lambert
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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From her starring roles as a skeptical child in the perennial classic Miracle on 34thStreet and a troubled adolescent in Rebel Without a Cause to mature roles in Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story, actress Natalie Wood transfixed the world with her hypnotic brown eyes. Yet behind the beautiful façade lurked a fragile, sparkling, generous, funny woman traumatized by her childhood and beset by personal demons.
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a mom story
- By M. Gobet on 10-30-15
By: Gavin Lambert
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The Field of Blood
- Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War
- By: Joanne B. Freeman
- Narrated by: Joanne B. Freeman
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Field of Blood, Joanne B. Freeman recovers the long-lost story of physical violence on the floor of the US Congress. Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources, she shows that the Capitol was rife with conflict in the decades before the Civil War. Legislative sessions were often punctuated by mortal threats, canings, flipped desks, and all-out slugfests. When debate broke down, congressmen drew pistols and waved Bowie knives. One representative even killed another in a duel. Many were beaten and bullied in an attempt to intimidate them into compliance, particularly on the issue of slavery.
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fascinating look at an untold aspect of US.history
- By P. Cardella on 09-27-18
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The Mighty Moo
- The USS Cowpens and Her Epic World War II Journey from Jinx Ship to the Navy's First Carrier into Tokyo Bay
- By: Nathan Canestaro
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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The USS Cowpens and her crew weren’t your typical heroes. She was a flattop that the US Navy initially didn’t want, with a captain nearly scapegoated for the loss of his last command, pilots who self-trained on the planes they would fly into combat, and sailors that had been in uniform barely longer than the ship had been afloat. Despite their humble origins, Cowpens and her band of second-string reservists and citizen sailors served with distinction, fighting in nearly every major carrier operation from 1943 to 1945, including the Battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf.
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simply outstanding.
- By Wendy B. on 03-25-25
By: Nathan Canestaro
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From the Moment They Met It Was Murder
- Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir
- By: Alain Silver, James Ursini
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The behind-the-scenes story of the quintessential film noir and cult classic, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity—its true crime origins and crucial impact on film history—is told for the first time in this riveting narrative published for the film's 80th anniversary. Authors Alain Silver and James Ursini tell the complete history of Double Indemnity in their latest and most provocative work on film noir: From the Moment They Met It Was Murder.
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Great history, INCREDIBLY annoying affection
- By WriteStuff on 10-23-24
By: Alain Silver, and others
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Checkmate in Berlin
- The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World
- By: Giles Milton
- Narrated by: Giles Milton
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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From a master of popular history, the lively, immersive story of the race to seize Berlin in the aftermath of World War II as it’s never been told before.
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Excellent history of the early days of the Cold War
- By Matt on 08-28-21
By: Giles Milton
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Wings of War
- The World War II Fighter Plane That Saved the Allies and the Believers Who Made It Fly
- By: David Fairbank White, Margaret Stanback White
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Wings of War is the incredible true story of the P-51 Mustang fighter and the unlikely crew of designers, engineers, test pilots, and army officers who brought it from the drafting table to the skies over World War II. This is hardly a straightforward tale of building an airplane—for years, the team was stymied by corruption within the defense industry and stonewalled by the Army Air Forces, who failed to understand the Mustang’s potential.
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Disappointed
- By David Kocol on 06-22-23
By: David Fairbank White, and others
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Pax
- War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Tom Holland
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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The Pax Romana has long been shorthand for the empire’s golden age. Stretching from Caledonia to Arabia, Rome ruled over a quarter of the world’s population. It was the wealthiest and most formidable state in the history of humankind. Pax is a captivating narrative history of Rome at the height of its power. From the gilded capital to realms beyond the frontier, historian Tom Holland shows ancient Rome in all its glory
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Great book!
- By Mic on 09-27-23
By: Tom Holland
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A Hell of a Storm
- The Battle for Kansas, the End of Compromise, and the Coming of the Civil War
- By: David S. Brown
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The history of the United States was shaped by a series of sectional compromises—the Constitutional Convention, the Missouri Compromise in 1820, and the Compromise of 1850. While these accords formed an imperfect republic, or “a house divided,” as Abraham Lincoln put it, the country nevertheless remained united. But then in 1854, this three-generations system suddenly blew up with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, leading to a nearly fatal rupture in the union, described here by David S. Brown in riveting detail.
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No narrative
- By JFG on 10-07-24
By: David S. Brown
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Marilyn Monroe
- The Private Life of a Public Icon
- By: Charles Casillo
- Narrated by: Thérèse Plummer
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Charles Casillo studies Monroe’s life through the context of her times - in the days before feminism. Before there was adequate treatment for bipolar disorder. Starting with her abusive childhood, this biography exposes how - in spite of her fractured psyche - Marilyn managed to transform each celebrated love affair and each tragedy into another step in her journey towards immortality. Casillo fully explores the last two years of her life, including her involvement with both John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, and the mystery of her last day.
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Good introductory text. Little new for aficionados
- By Reggie on 11-25-18
By: Charles Casillo
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Plentiful Country
- The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York
- By: Tyler Anbinder
- Narrated by: David McCusker
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1845, a fungus began to destroy Ireland’s potato crop, triggering a famine that would kill one million Irish men, women, and children—and drive over one million more to flee for America. Ten years later, the United States had been transformed by this stupendous migration, nowhere more than New York: by 1855, roughly a third of all adults living in Manhattan were immigrants who had escaped the hunger in Ireland.
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Changing Perceptions on Immigrants
- By Janet V. Payne on 05-07-24
By: Tyler Anbinder
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Descent into Darkness
- Pearl Harbor, 1941, A Navy Diver's Memoir
- By: Edward C. Raymer
- Narrated by: Peter Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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On December 7, 1941, as the great battleships Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah lie paralyzed and burning in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A crack team of U.S. Navy salvage divers headed by Edward C. Raymer are hurriedly flown to Oahu from the mainland. Their two-part orders are direct and straightforward: (1) rescue as many trapped sailors and Marines as possible, and (2) resurrect what remains of America's once mighty pacific fleet. Descent Into Darkness tells their story.
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A Massive Disappointment
- By Matthew on 10-14-15
By: Edward C. Raymer
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Shirley Jackson
- A Rather Haunted Life
- By: Ruth Franklin
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 19 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Known to millions mainly as the author of the "The Lottery", Shirley Jackson has been curiously absent from the mainstream American literary canon. A genius of literary suspense and psychological horror, Jackson plumbed the cultural anxiety of postwar America more deeply than anyone. Ruth Franklin reveals the tumultuous life and inner darkness of the author of The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
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An incredible writer; a courageous woman
- By Lesley on 10-08-16
By: Ruth Franklin
What listeners say about Lincoln vs. Davis
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Evan
- 02-08-25
Evan's Review
Different from most Civil War books. This compares Lincoln and Davis leadership styles Davis the military man Lincoln the policial man. I was surprise how much time and detail was spent with Lincoln dealing with McCellan. Another surprise how the book ends with Lincoln signing the Enmcation Procmantion. I strongly recommend the book
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-07-24
loved the insights of inner cabinets.
Minot stories seemed unresearched, like how stonewall got his nickname bit its a great book. the inside info from both cabinets and influences of the wives helps flesh out the men.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Dave SHA
- 12-18-24
Mistakes and compromises I never knew
I learned so much. About both of these people.I learned things that nobody had taught us before.There was no glorification of either character in here. Only the facts about what they were stuck with and what they were dealt and how they handled it. And most of the time, how quickly they realized well, this isn't going to work. Then what is clear to us now, it was so difficult for them to see. In the end,that's what secured the end of the war for them. But also a future for us in America.
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- Martin J Dunleavy
- 02-09-25
Great book should’ve gone to the end of the war
Really fascinating side-by-side biographies, but was very disappointed that it ended with the emancipation proclamation. Instead of going to the end of the war would’ve been a five star book because of the premature ending. I dropped a star.
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- Fernando U.
- 01-14-25
Good biographical perspective
This was an insightful biography of two consequential men in our American story . It gave a great portrayal of context of the tumultuous times leading up to and during the Civil War. It got inside of the minds and motives of these men and their influencers so you come away with a deeper understanding of how and why history unfolded the way it did. It held my interest throughout.
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- J B Tipton
- 02-14-25
Disappointing
I have a hundred books on the Civil War area in my library. This is my least favorite. Repeated unsupported opinions propounded in a snide, condescending tone. The author supports his opinions by stating that this is what historians have decided - not many historians or some historians, just historians.
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